Genesis 34:17

Hebrew Bible

15 We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males. 16 Then we will give you our daughters to marry, and we will take your daughters as wives for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. 17 But if you do not agree to our terms by being circumcised, then we will take our sister and depart. 18 Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.

LXX Genesis 34:17

Septuagint

15 In this we will become like you and settle among you, if you, even you, become like us when every male of yours has been circumcised, 16 and we will give our daughters to you, and we will take some of your daughters as wives for us, and we will live beside you, and we will be as one clan. 17 But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, we will depart, taking our daughters. 18 And their words were pleasing before Hemmora and before Sychem, the son of Hem- mora.

 Notes and References

"... The other noteworthy change is found in 34:17. Here the sons of Jacob prescribe the alternatives for Hamor and Shechem. If they don't accede to the demand that they be circumcised. then Jacob's family will take their 'daughter' and will go. While the Hebrew has a singular here referring to Dinah, the Greek translates with a plural. Was Dinah being held hostage by the family of Shechem while this bargaining was going on or not? If she is being held, that illuminates the nature of the dialogue and the coming attack on the residents of Shechem. The Hebrew with a singular implies she is a hostage. The plural referring to the hypothetical 'daughters' of 34:16 does not imply that any hostage is being held ..."

Beck, John A. Translators as Storytellers: A Study in Septuagint Translation Technique (p. 31) Peter Lang Publishing, 2000

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